Crytek accuses academia of being 'under equipped'

Universities and colleges have been quick to jump on the virtual reality bandwagon, but gaming industry giant Crytek believes that academia has failed to equip itself properly.

Crytek, as you would imagine, has a fair amount of self interest in its research into VR in education - pushing its VR First initiative.

But, the burgeoning industry is clearly desperate for high-quality graduates that can bring their intelligence and focus to creating a new generation of virtual worlds and the equipment we use to access them.

Two headsets are better than one

According to Crytek's research 88% of the 201 universities signed up on its scheme - offering state-of-the-art hardware from partners and Crytek's Cryengine - are planning to offer a VR course.

But on average they have fewer than two headsets available, which is pretty clearly going to stymie ambitions.

Ferhan Özkan, Senior Business Development Manager at Crytek, said: "According to our predictions, the VR industry is likely to require many more skilled development graduates than it will be producing in the next years.

"At the same time our data clearly shows that universities are under-equipped to implement educational goals and satisfy the VR industry's demand."